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Holston River
The North Fork of the Holston River near Weber City, Virginia.
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia, Tennessee
Physical characteristics
Source	North Fork Holston River
- location	Bland County, Virginia
- coordinates	37°03′51″N 81°16′15″W / 37.06417°N 81.27083°W / 37.06417; -81.27083[1]
- elevation	2,880 ft (880 m)
2nd source	South Fork Holston River
- location	Smyth County, Virginia
- coordinates	36°46′11″N 81°22′04″W / 36.76972°N 81.36778°W / 36.76972; -81.36778[2]
- elevation	2,900 ft (880 m)
3rd source
- location	Kingsport, Tennessee
- coordinates	36°32′51″N 82°36′44″W / 36.54750°N 82.61222°W / 36.54750; -82.61222[3]
- elevation	1,158 ft (353 m)
Mouth	Tennessee River
- location	Knoxville, Tennessee
- coordinates	35°57′33″N 83°51′0″W / 35.95917°N 83.85000°W / 35.95917; -83.85000Coordinates: 35°57′33″N 83°51′0″W / 35.95917°N 83.85000°W / 35.95917; -83.85000[3]
- elevation	814 ft (248 m)[3]
Length	136 mi (219 km)[3]
Basin size	3,776 sq mi (9,780 km2)[5]
Discharge
- location	J. Will Taylor Bridge (Hwy. 70) near Knoxville, Tennessee, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) above the mouth(mean for water years 1931–1975, 1979-1983)[4]
- average	4,759 cu ft/s (134.8 m3/s)(mean for water years 1931–1975, 1979-1983)[4]
- minimum	44 cu ft/s (1.2 m3/s)December 1941[4]
- maximum	62,900 cu ft/s (1,780 m3/s)March 1935[4]
Basin features
River system	Tennessee → Ohio → Mississippi

The Holston River is a 136-mile (219 km) river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and northwestern North Carolina. The Holston's confluence with the French Broad River at Knoxville marks the beginning of the Tennessee River.

The North Fork flows 138 miles (222 km) southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia. The Middle Fork flows 56.5 miles (90.9 km) from near the western border of Wythe County, Virginia, joining the South Fork in Washington County, Virginia, southeast of Abingdon. The South Fork rises near Sugar Grove in Smyth County and flows 112 miles (180 km) southwest to join the North Fork at Kingsport.^[6] The Watauga River, a tributary of the South Fork Holston, flows 78.5 miles (126.3 km) westward from Watauga County, North Carolina.

The main stem of the Holston is impounded by the Tennessee Valley Authority's Cherokee Dam near Jefferson City, Tennessee. Five other dams, also managed by TVA, impound the Holston's headwater streams: Watauga Dam and Wilbur Dam on the Watauga River, and Boone Dam, Fort Patrick Henry Dam, and South Holston Dam, on the South Fork Holston River.

Power generation

The Holston River valley has been greatly developed for electrical power generation, both with hydroelectric dams and coal-fired steam plants. In the upper reaches, some of these plants are controlled by private interests; in the downstream portion, they are owned by the United States Government's Tennessee Valley Authority.

Area

Among the dams and associated reservoirs on the South Fork Holston River are Boone Dam and Boone Lake, named for the explorer Daniel Boone; Fort Patrick Henry Dam and Fort Patrick Henry Lake, named for the Revolutionary War hero; and South Holston Dam and South Holston Lake.

Cherokee Dam on the Holston River forms Cherokee Lake, named for the historic Native Americans who occupied extensive areas along the Holston River at the time of European-American settlement. The United States settlers and army fought with the Cherokee over land in Tennessee, North Carolina, and further South into Georgia and Alabama. In the 1830s the government forced the Cherokee out on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) west of the Mississippi River, under the authority of the Indian Removal Act passed by Congress in 1830.

Name

Maps by early French explorers in this area identified what is now known as the Holston River as the "Cherokee River", after the tribe they encountered. Early Tennessee historian and Tennessee Supreme Court Justice John Haywood cited in his 1823 book The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796, including the boundaries of the state that the Holston River was identified and named on earlier produced French maps as the "Cherokee River".^[7]

British colonists later named the Holston River after pioneer Stephen Holstein, a European-American settler who built a cabin in 1746 on the upper reaches of the river.^[8] Similarly, Holston Mountain was named after the Holston River.

Recreation

All three forks in Virginia, South Holston Lake, and the Holston River in Tennessee below the South Holston Dam offer relatively easy-to-reach recreation opportunities. The North Fork in Virginia is known as an excellent smallmouth bass river (due to mercury contamination, fish caught in the North Fork of the Holston below Saltville, Virginia must not be consumed).^[9] Both the South Fork in Virginia and the first 20 miles (32 km) of the Holston in Tennessee below South Holston Dam are quality brown trout and rainbow trout fisheries. The Holston River is wide and open enough to allow extensive fly fishing. South Holston Lake offers a variety of fishing opportunity as well, as it contains smallmouth bass, common carp, walleye, pike, sunfish, crappie and a few trout.

List of crossings

Holston River

The following is a list of major road crossings on the Holston River:

Bridge Name	Crossing/Road	Location	Notes
Boyds Bridge	Boyds Bridge Pike/Strawberry Plains Pike	Knoxville, Tennessee	First road crossing over the Holston
Holston River Bridge	Interstate 40	Knoxville
J.W. Will Taylor Memorial Bridge	US 11E / US 25W / US 70 / SR 9 / SR-168 (Asheville Highway)	Knoxville
Mascot Bridge	Mascot Road	Mascot/Strawberry Plains, Tennessee	Concrete arch bridge
John K. Shields Bridge	SR-92	Near Jefferson City, Tennessee
Olen R. Marshall Bridge	US 25E / SR 32 (Davy Crockett Parkway)	Morristown/Bean Station, Tennessee	The Olen R. Marshall Bridge is one of two bridges to cross Cherokee Lake
Melinda Ferry Bridge	SR 344 (Melinda Ferry Road)	near Rogersville, Tennessee
Hugh B. Day Bridge	SR 66 / SR 70	near Rogersville and Persia, Tennessee
William L. Jenkins Bridge	SR 347 (Burem Pike)	location near Rogersville
Longs Bend Bridge	Longs Bend Pike	Surgoinsville, Tennessee	Original bridge was demolished in 2014.
	Goshen Valley Road	Church Hill, Tennessee	Bridge does not have a name; final crossing over the main Holston River

South Fork Holston River

North Fork Holston River

Middle Fork Holston River

See also

• List of Tennessee rivers


• List of Virginia rivers


• Watauga River


• Doe River


• Saltville, Virginia

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Holston River.

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Holston River